Fishman
by LiGi
Summary: "We're now heading over to the Aquatic Centre for the men's 200m Butterfly Final, with live commentary from Andrew Thompson." My take on Gordon's first Olympic Gold medal, from the point of view of the commentator.


**A/N – Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the Olympics as much as I did! Well, surprise surprise, here is a Gordon at the Olympics story!**

**As soon as the Olympics started I knew my fingers would be itching to write a Gordon story, but I wanted mine to be different from the rest that I knew would appear. And so I decided to set myself a challenge, usually my writing is quite descriptive, so instead, with this story, I've gone for a totally different format – no description at all. Which I have found really difficult! Hence why this story wasn't published two weeks ago when I first had the idea and started writing!**

**Anyway… enough of my rambling. This story is dedicated to my wonderful sister/beta Kaet Huntacwene, and my friend and fellow Gordon Girl Louise Hargadon and everyone over at TIWF who've spent the last week listing all our favourite Gordon moments from the series!**

**The cover picture is Chad le Clos of South Africa, as his Gold medal win in the 200m Butterfly in London 2012 was partly what inspired the events of this fic.**

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own Thunderbirds. Nor do I own an Olympic Gold medal. I also don't own Chad le Clos or the incredible Michael Phelps. Although, hell, I wish I did!**

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**Fish-man**

_August 2060_

"We're now heading over to the Aquatic Centre for the swimming, with live commentary from Andrew Thompson. Over to you, Andy."

"Thanks Sara. And here we are with the men's 200m Butterfly Final.

"This promises to be a good race; we have Ian Jones from Great Britain, who has won Gold in this event in the last two Games and holds the Olympic Record of 1:51.94. He'll be swimming in lane five next to Gordon Tracy from the United States of America. Tracy qualified with the fastest time in both the heats and the semi-finals and, quite honestly, has been a bit of a surprise for everybody. He didn't compete at the World Championships in July 2059 due to a wrist injury so we haven't actually seen him in a competitive medalling race yet. And despite coming first in a lot of the qualification trials back in March, nobody really expects much from Tracy, perhaps a Bronze or two maybe.

"Ok, in they come. First, in lane one, Huang Rei swimming for China. He got the Silver in the World Championships last year, just edged out of Gold by Ian Jones. He seemed to be having an off day yesterday in the semi-finals and only just scraped a place in the final by two hundredths of a second. He'll be hoping to swim a bit better today.

"In lane two, representing Brazil, Fabio Carlos Vericiano. He's just twenty years old, the second youngest in this race – Gordon Tracy of course, is only seventeen. This is Vericiano's first Olympics and he's doing quite well so far, came fifth in the 200m breaststroke two days ago.

"Lane three, from France is Jacquot Yves. He's doing fantastically well so far, Gold in the 200m breaststroke and Silver in 100m. He's really working the home advantage here in Paris and the crowd are loving him. We expect another Silver from him in this race and of course he could even challenge the great Ian Jones for Gold.

"This is Gordon Tracy for the United States of America, in lane four. Fastest qualifier in the semi-final with 1:53.60, but can he do it again? And listen to that… that must be his family, if we pan the camera over there… yes; they're all wearing Team Tracy shirts look, and making a real noise! They must be proud to see him racing against the current Olympic Champion of this event.

"And speaking of, here he comes. Ian Jones of Great Britain, swimming in lane five. Oh he does look good! Giving a little wink to the camera there, he looks confident. And of course he's aiming for a third Gold for the 200m butterfly. He holds the current Olympic Record, as I mentioned earlier and he seems sure he can break it. He told reporters this morning that he's retiring after this Games and just wants to collect a few more medals and set a few more records before he goes out! Well, I'm sure he will.

"Oops, I've talked so long about Jones I almost missed Mark le Roux there! Mark le Roux representing South Africa in lane six. He got Bronze in the 400m individual medley on Monday pulling ahead in the butterfly leg of the race.

"And in lane seven, Niklas Schwarz from Germany. He appears to be a bit panicked actually, not seen him like that before, usually he's quite calm and collected before a race. I wonder what's bothering him. He didn't get the qualification time he wanted and I think he's worried about racing Jones.

"In eight, Matteus Rybak for Sweden. He came in tied seventh position with Huang in the semi-finals and they had a swim off to decide the lane order but he's looking a bit happier now so we'll see what time he finishes with today.

"There are the records to beat, on the screen now. Jones' Olympic record set at Amsterdam in 2056 and of course, astonishingly, the World Record, set by the legendary Michael Phelps in 2009 over fifty years ago now, is 1:51.51. That really is a record to beat; it's the longest standing World record in history. The closest anyone has come to it is 1:51.76 by Ian Jones in the 2057 World Championships.

"Here we are, the men just warming up now. You can see how short Gordon Tracy really is when he's standing there! Jones is six foot three on Tracy's right and Jacquot Yves on his left is six five, but Tracy himself is only five foot eight! But we know he can swim fast despite that, he has those long feet which his coach has jokingly referred to as flippers and boy, does he use them!

"Each of the swimmers has their own little ritual before a race, you can see Vericiano just kissed his goggles before putting them on, and Schwarz crossed himself. Yves salutes his mum in the crowd and waves to the fans. Many of them splash water over their chests and faces but… did he just…? Yes, Tracy just scooped a handful of water from the pool and drank it! Each to their own, I suppose.

"Ok, they're up onto the starting blocks now. Jones just readjusting his goggles there and… they're off. Good dive from Yves. Schwarz looked a bit jerky though, I don't think he'd secured the back on the starting block, it looked like it moved when he pushed off.

"Tracy's good underwater, look at him, he got very deep on the dive and is using nice little dolphin kicks to get his speed up. He'd better surface soon, he's going to miss the fifteen metre mark… no, up he comes, fourteen and three quarter metres, that's close. Taking a huge breath in and he's in fourth place.

"Jones in third, lane five, the red hat. Good pacing, he got a nice clean start. Now, he usually paces the first one hundred metres, keeping steady to conserve energy and it's on the third leg that he pushes the power in to move into lead.

"Leading now is Yves of France, in lane three with Huang of China very close behind. Yves first to turn at fifty metres with 25.1 seconds, Huang second and Jones third. Excellent kick off the wall from Tracy, he's gliding ahead and… yes, he's come up third. Huang and Yves fighting for first, just a few hundredths of a second between them after the turn. Vericiano and Rybak both keeping pace nicely and le Roux of South Africa in lane six, the green hat.

"Schwarz trying to make up for his bad start but he's quite far behind, I think the dive has thrown him, he's not looking as good as he usually does by now.

"Jones has begun to pick up speed, look at him; he has brilliant form here and an excellent stroke. This is where he'll begin to show what he's made of. He'll want to defend his Olympic title and maybe become the second swimmer in history to win Gold in the same event at three consecutive Games – the only other man to do so was, of course, the great Michael Phelps back in London 2012.

"And at the one hundred metre turn, Jones is first followed closely by Yves with Tracy in third. And here is where the big guys start to go. Jones ahead by half a body length with that powerful stroke of his. And le Roux from South Africa and Rybak of Sweden both pushing faster, gaining the ground they lost in the first hundred metres.

"But Yves is starting to look tired, his speed is dropping slightly. Did he use too much energy in the first hundred? He's fallen to fourth now with Huang pulling ahead of him.

"And Jones still hasn't shaken Tracy. It seems to be between Jones, Huang and Tracy now, with the others starting to fall behind. Yves has now dropped to sixth place, he will not be happy with the way he paced those first two lengths of the pool.

"Coming into the third turn at one hundred and fifty metres. Fifty metres to go. Wow, Tracy is fast underwater, he's closed the gap and is now right at Jones' shoulder. Jones having a quick look over to see where his competitors are. I wonder how surprised he is to find Tracy almost keeping pace with him!

"And that red mark on the dividing ropes signifies they're half way across the pool – twenty-five metres left. Can he do it? Can Jones win this race for the third time in a row? Can he become the Phelps of this generation?

"Phelps' record is 1:51.51. They're at 1:49 right now with just a few metres to go.

"Tracy is still fighting… Come on, Ian, get the touch… And, no! I don't think he got it! Oh my goodness! Gordon Tracy for the United States of America gets the Gold! Ian Jones only getting Silver. And Bronze to Huang Rei of China.

"The seventeen year old Kansas farm-boy has beaten the Olympic Champion and set a new Olympic Record of 1:51.51… Wait, am I reading that right? Gordon Tracy has matched – down to the hundredth of a second – Michael Phelps' World Record for the 200m butterfly! I don't know what will happen there; will they count it as a new World record or not? Probably not, which is a shame for Tracy. It will be the new Olympic record though.

"But look at him, he can't believe it. He's pulled his goggles off and is staring up at the scoreboard and hanging onto the dividing rope as if his life depends on it. And Ian Jones has ducked under the rope into Tracy's lane and has just enveloped him in a huge hug.

"And there's his family in the crowd, shouting at the top of their voices. That's his father, Jeff Tracy, the ex-astronaut, and my goodness doesn't he look proud! Jeff, of course, wanted Gordon to follow in his footsteps and go into space but I think Gordon is definitely more at home in water! And, earlier today Sara Miles caught John Tracy – Gordon's older brother – on the way into the Aquatic Centre and he told her that although their father had originally encouraged Gordon to be interested in stars and space travel, as a child Gordon had claimed he was a fish-man and 'fish-men have no reason to go into space as there's no water'.

"I'm sure Gordon won't be pleased with his brother for telling the World Press that! But from what we've seen today, if 'fish-men' do exist, that's one of them down there.

"And here's the results table on your screens now. The new Olympic Champion, Gordon Tracy of the United States with a time of 1:51.51 gets the Gold. Ian Jones from Team GB, Silver with a new Personal Best of 1:51.68. Huang Rei of China getting Bronze with 1:52.97.

"Well, wasn't that a fantastic race? Gordon Tracy edging out Ian Jones by point one of a second, wow. I can't wait to see Tracy's next event – the 100m butterfly tomorrow. Can he do it again?

"And there we go, folks, Gordon Tracy, Ian Jones and Huang Rei. They'll be back for the medal ceremony in half an hour after the Women's 100m Freestyle."

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**A/N – Well… it sure is tricky when you're used to writing description and then suddenly you can't! **

**Hope you all liked it anyway, please leave a review to let me know what you thought of my attempt at something different! Have I found my calling as a commentator? Or should I stick to descriptive writing?**

**Thanks for reading,**

**LiGi xx**


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